With the occasion of Colin Greenwood’s 43rd birthday, we’re publishing the interview we had with him backstage at Foro Sol in Mexico City last April 17th. Our meeting took place several minutes before the band did their soundcheck and before an intense raing soaked everyone waiting outside the venue.
This interview was made possible thanks to Leonardo Ebel (ExitMusic | Radiohead en Argentina), Constanza Roman (RadioheadChile.com) and Italo Rossi (RadioheadPeru.org) in coordination with Julie Calland, Chris Hufford and Peter Yozell on Radiohead’s side.
As soon as we arrived in Foro Sol, we saw dozens of bootlegged merch stands with all kinds of designs, quality and prices. These ranged from simple t-shirts to collectible objects like shot glasses, towels, posters, keyrings, fake backstage passes (?!) and anything you can imagine with Radiohead’s name and, in many cases, designs related to The King of Limbs.
After clearing with the different security checks, we met with members of OCESA (in charge of local production), who quickly derived us with Peter Yozell so he could escort us to the zone where Colin was waiting for us. Trusting we’d have a bit more time, Peter asked us if 10 minuts were enough to go over all of our questions. We ended up asking for 20 minutes, which were conceded with an overwhelming kindness, just as you’d expect from the human group conforming Radiohead’s touring party all through their career.
We waited by the entrance to the backstage area, close to where the vans in charge of transporting the musicians and stuff parked, keeping quiet not to look suspicious or break into exaggerated enthusiasm in front of the band’s personal security staff. All of a sudden, Ed O’Brien comes out and talks to some members of the crew right in front of us before going into the production offices. A few minutes later, Phil Selway does the same. Ed comes back and greets us from a distance. Respecting his personal space, we preferred not to interrupt whatever he was doing at the time.
Shortly after, a van with the members of Caribou arrives. They’re met with a friendly hug from Thom Yorke (wearing an orange jacket and dark pants, as well as sunshades). Radiohead’s singer goes into the backstage and we’re immediately asked inside by Peter, telling us Colin will be with us in a few moments. We took the chance to greet Chris Hufford and thank him for the enormous gesture he and his team have had with all fans over the past years. We’re quickly escorted to a living room kind of area decorated with “The King of Limbs” plush cushions and Colin Greenwood arrives almost immediately. We greet each other with familiar looks and so we begin.
[recording starts here]
Italo Rossi: Hi Colin.
Colin Greenwood: Hello.
Italo Rossi: This is an interview for three South American sites, we got together with people from Argentina, Chile and I’m from Peru.
Colin Greenwood Nice.
Italo Rossi: ...and we’re doing a small interview since you guys will not be visiting South America this time around, so perhaps this will be some sort of compensation around here (laughs).
Colin Greenwood: (laughs)
Italo Rossi: So... looking at the schedule: is everything already announced, is there anything left to be announced, are you touring only this year or do you have any plans for 2013?
Colin Greenwood: That’s like four questions! (laughs)
Italo Rossi: Let’s get it simple then... is there any plans beyond what’s been announced?
Colin Greenwood: No, I believe we’ve already announced everything and we don’t have any plans beyond November this year.
Italo Rossi: What do you think of visiting for the first time countries such as Taiwan and South Korea, and going back to Australia and New Zealand.
Colin Greenwood: I’m very excited, yeah! Can’t wait to go there! I love Australia and New Zealand so that’s fine.
Italo Rossi: On to that Taiwan date, is there any sort of statement behind since you stand for ibetan freedom, maybe you can not enter China because of that... does it have anything to do with that or...
Colin Greenwood: No, it’s just the opportunity to go there and play Taiwan, you know. Other than that there’s nothing, really.
Italo Rossi: So there’s nothing political behind that...
Colin Greenwood: No, no.
Italo Rossi: Alright... whose idea was it to rehearse so many songs for this tour? I think Thom said there’s more than 70 at this point...?
Colin Greenwood: Whose idea? All of our ideas, but it’s real cool you know to place some real old things and new things and mix it up.
Italo Rossi: Starting with the very old stuff, someone mentioned it was your idea to bring back ”The Amazing Sounds of Orgy”, which is great.
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, cool.
Italo Rossi: People are going crazy with that or “Meeting in the Aisle”.
Colin Greenwood: It’s crazy, yeah... a nod to the fans, doing the b-sides and stuff.
Italo Rossi: So there’s more stuff coming up?
Colin Greenwood: Yeah! New things too.
Italo Rossi: Speaking of the new songs... do you think they’re ready to enter the studio? Have they been recorded yet?
Colin Greenwood: Uh... I don’t think... we’ve done some recordings for one or two of them, but we haven’t... you know... everything is kind of up in the air still. So uhm... we’ll just come down to play them (yawns) sorry, I didn’t sleep very well.
Italo Rossi: It’s alright!
Colin Greenwood: Good.
Italo Rossi: Regarding “The King of Limbs”.
Colin Greenwood: Yes, sir.
Italo Rossi: It took you a lot of time to record, you had some stuff in 2009 where “Twisted Words” came out and “Harry Patch”...
Colin Greenwood: That’s right.
Italo Rossi: Did any of that stuff come through? Because Jonny mentioned there were different songs in different stages of completion around that time. Did any of that material come into the end, into the final version of “The King of Limbs”?
Colin Greenwood: No no, we just recorded it and released it so we just put it on the record.
Italo Rossi: So you did it pretty quickly...
Colin Greenwood: Yeah.
Italo Rossi: Do you think the solo efforts that Phil had and the orchestra works from Jonny and the Atoms for Peace touring had any effect on the way you approached the sessions for ”The King of Limbs”?
Colin Greenwood: (long pause) No, I don’t think so... we just carried on as we always do, so...
Italo Rossi: Ok! ...and what exactly are the office charts? You’re always posting some sort of playlists.
Colin Greenwood: I’ve done a playlist, Thom does it most of the time. It’s basically stuff that we’re into, you know, like just doing playlists... it’s cool.
Italo Rossi: Yeah, because it’s been going on for a while.
Colin Greenwood: It’s cool, it’s pretty cool... yeah yeah yeah...
Italo Rossi: The general opinion is that “The King of Limbs” has like two different halves, like a very rhythmic and powerful one with lots of rhythm and bass... and you stand out there pretty well, and then after “Lotus Flower” things mellow down a bit. Was that deliberate? To make it that way?
Colin Greenwood: We spent a long time working out how to put things in order and it just seemed to pull together in that way, with a more peaceful and melodic second half. Yeah, it’s true...
Italo Rossi: Is there any reason why there weren’t any real singles beyond the “Lotus Flower” video? What was the impression...
Colin Greenwood: I think it was because we felt like that... I think it was because, you know, people don’t really do singles anymore, release singles and videos and stuff and it kind of just worked as one piece of work.
Italo Rossi: It’s pretty coherent.
Colin Greenwood: Thank you.
Italo Rossi: Regarding fans and the fansites, you know... maybe you’re not aware but “The Universal Sigh”... the newspaper Thom handed out and everything.
Colin Greenwood: Yeah...
Italo Rossi: It wasn’t delivered in South America at first but thanks to conversations between the fansites and management we actually made it happen. What do you think about the fact that the fans usually have the initiative to keep things moving? You know, there’s fan DVDs, there’s a lot of fan art, all kinds of stuff... do you like the enthusiasm?
Colin Greenwood: I think it’s fantastic and I’m really excited about it specially from places we haven’t been to in a long time like South America, I love... you know, it’s funnybeing back here in Mexico City because we have very strong memories of the first time we came here with Kraftwerk, which is really special when we did that tour in South America with them, which is good.
Italo Rossi: Do you actually feel... do you actually like the separation between the fansites giving more of the “News” stuff while “Dead Air Space” is more of a personal space for you, you’re posting pictures...
Colin Greenwood: I think it’s a good thing...
Italo Rossi: Instead of, you know, regular announcements...
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, I think it’s really cool to do that.
Italo Rossi: Back on the new songs and starting to talk about Clive. Do you think his influences have done a lot on the new arrangements for “Identikit”.
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, I think it’s great having Clive because he just makes things... he brings things up and gives them a different flavor and I think it’s really fun to play with him and also we have an enormous respect for him as a musician because he plays some of my favorite music... Portishead and Robert Plant and all these things over the years.
Italo Rossi: Do you plan going into the studio with him?
Colin Greenwood: Yes!
Italo Rossi: He’s actually become fundamental for the performance. How did you reach him? Did you first contact him?
Colin Greenwood: We were trying to come up with someone to help, we didn’t want to use computers... and (long pause) we had some friends we thought we’ll ask but they were in America so we had to think of someone in England and we called Clive, just great!
Italo Rossi: About the remix album... how did you come up with choosing people like Jamie XX, SBTRKT or Jacques Greene? Why do you think “Bloom” is the most remixed track?
Colin Greenwood: Uhh... I don’t know why “Bloom” is the most remixed track. I guess it’s just the one people are most into because I think we said to people they could choose things they were into and we didn’t... I love the Caribou remix of “Lotus Flower”, I think it’s really fun.
Italo Rossi: So that’s the one you enjoy the most...
Colin Greenwood: Uhh... yeah... uhh... I really like that one.
Italo Rossi: A lot of people are wondering, since Thom has a real close relationship with Flying Lotus, you had a tour with Modeselektor, you guys included Apparat and Actress in the Office Charts... how come they didn’t get involved in the project?
Colin Greenwood: Which project?
Italo Rossi: In the remix project.
Colin Greenwood: Oh! Uhm... I don’t think they had time, I think people were too busy finishing records or something like that.
Italo Rossi: Did you ever think of calling Kraftwerk to do a remix?
Colin Greenwood: (laughs) Nooo! It would take too long.
Italo Rossi: We understand the “In Rainbows” sessions were a bit difficult. How do you feel as a band? How do you feel as a band today? How does Radiohead as a group feel today?
Colin Greenwood: How do we feel as a band today? We’re good, yeah. We’re doing good, yeah!
Italo Rossi: It seems you guys are pretty happy on stage and everything... especially you! Always coming on stage jumping.
Colin Greenwood: Yeah! Yeah yeah! Less so these days, but yes... (laughs).
Italo Rossi: Do you think the new songs are going to have a further evolution live or do you feel the versions you have right now are definitive? I don’t know...
Colin Greenwood: I don’t know... (pause) I’ll think when we record them, listen back and make some decisions they might change.
Italo Rossi: Are you aware that every single record after “Meeting People is Easy” has one song from that documentary? Except “The King of Limbs”. You had “How to Disappear...” on Kid A, “Life in a Glass House” on Amnesiac, “I Will” on Hail to the Thief...
Colin Greenwood: Really?
Italo Rossi: “Nude” on In Rainbows.
Colin Greenwood: That’s crazy! That’s amazing, I didn’t realize that...
Italo Rossi: So this is the first record that doesn’t have anything from there. Though “Magpie” was actually on the Radiohead.TV thing.
Colin Greenwood: That’s right!
Italo Rossi: There’s always people wondering whatever happened to other songs, and maybe you’re sick of hearing this but, what’s up with “Big Boots” or “Follow Me Around”.
Colin Greenwood: Oh yeah...!
Italo Rossi: Do you always keep trying to do these songs or you already...?
Colin Greenwood: No no, they might pop up in some strange shape or form.
Italo Rossi: Do you think there might be any chance to dig up into the archives of Radiohead at some point?
Colin Greenwood: I think it’s... no, I don’t... I don’t know... it’s always good to move forward and deal with it by going on tour and playing old songs and b-sides
Italo Rossi: But no obscure session versions or anything?
Colin Greenwood: Oh! I see what you’re saying... uh... I don’t think so... no, because anything we end up doing with these songs is just out there, so...
Italo Rossi: Because you know... I think it was Neil Young who did it.
Colin Greenwood: Ah yeah, that’s right!
Italo Rossi: and he reckons there was some good stuff and some crap stuff.
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, amazing!
Italo Rossi: Is there any chance to retake doing webcasts from your studio?
Colin Greenwood: Oh yeah, but I think it’s always trying to find something a bit different each time so you know, it seems a little repeated to me... but uh... but yeah, maybe!
Italo Rossi: Going onto a bit more personal stuff about you...
Colin Greenwood: Yes sir...
Italo Rossi: What are your favorite records lately?
Colin Greenwood: Lately? Uh... I’ve been listening to Lorraine Hunt Lieberson singing Handel Arias, I’ve been listening to uhm... Desmond Dekker singing “Fu Manchu” and... who else? Lots of random things, these have been my favorite sessions and... those might be my favorite things at the moment, yeah.
Italo Rossi: Anything you might be reading right now?
Colin Greenwood: Uhh... Reading reading reading reading reading reading reading reading ... I got a Latin American book, I haven’t started yet but it’s pretty good, I’m gonna bring it.
True to his style, Colin stands up for a few minutes to try and find the book we asked for, expecting to find it between his things in the dressing room, however...
Colin Greenwood: I left it where we’re at, sorry. Reading... uhh... I don’t know, really. I got caught! I’ll tell you what... if you send an email... who did you arrange this through?
Italo Rossi: I arranged it through uh... Julie?
Colin Greenwood: Then email Julie and I’ll let her know.
Italo Rossi: That’s fine... so uhm... what else... Adam Buxton recorded stuff for the webcasts.
Colin Greenwood: That’s right.
Italo Rossi: And recently, in this BUG special where you and Jonny attended he put some clips from the “In Rainbows” sessions.
Colin Greenwood: Yeah!
Italo Rossi: Did you record more of that stuff or was he there for just a couple of weeks or...?
Colin Greenwood: You mean if he recorded sessions for “In Rainbows”?
Italo Rossi: Yeah, there was an alternate version of “All I Need”...
Colin Greenwood: Ah yeah, that’s old footage and stuff we didn’t release...
Italo Rossi: So you’re constantly recording stuff yourselves.
Colin Greenwood: Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah...
Italo Rossi: That’s cool.
BB: Did you like the fan art?
Colin Greenwood: I like the what? Sorry?
Italo Rossi: The fan art they displayed in the BUG special, remember the drawings...
Colin Greenwood: Ah yeah! I loved that (laughs) ... brilliant! I liked the YouTube comments as well.
Italo Rossi: Yeah! That’s brilliant, they’re pretty funny actually.
Colin Greenwood: Yeah!
Italo Rossi: What do the “From the Basement” sessions mean to you?
Colin Greenwood: Well I was... I had flu, so I was ill but it was... the place we played was brilliant! It’s the BBC Maida Vale studios, a 1930s ’40s building, it was great and it was kind of the first time the music came together in that form to tour it live so it was pretty exciting, that was great!
Italo Rossi: Do you plan on doing more old songs there or just keep moving forward as you said?
Colin Greenwood: Moving forward, yeah... always! That’s great.
Italo Rossi: So there’s no chance for “Pablo Honey: From the Basement”?
Colin Greenwood: No (laughs) Yeah! A retrospective!
Italo Rossi: “On A Friday” songs.
Colin Greenwood: Oh no! (laughs)
Italo Rossi: Back on the promotion of “The King of Limbs”, everything was seemingly put on YouTube, streaming everywhere... was this a conscious decision or you’re just basically going with the flow? The trend with the music industry right now is that everyone is putting everything online...
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, I suppose... (pause) yeah... I mean... it’s gonna get on there anyway so we want it to have it in as good quality as possible so people will come to us.
Italo Rossi: Kind of controlling the leak yourselves?
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, that’s good.
Italo Rossi: You know, whenever Thom makes DJ sessions anywhere... have you ever thought of doing DJ sessions yourself?
Colin Greenwood: Yeah yeah! My friend Kieran from Four Tet says I should do it, it might be fun but I don’t really have that... you know... that desire to play music to people, I don’t feel okay doing it, pushing my taste to people.
Italo Rossi: So... so far it’s only Thom right now.
Colin Greenwood: Yeah...
Italo Rossi: Whenever you guys are apart or taking breaks, do you exchange demos? You know... by e-mail? Do you mail CDs to each other?
Colin Greenwood: Yeah! Sometimes, it’s bits and ideas (hums a melody).
Italo Rossi: What do you think of the fact, going on the YouTube stuff, that for example some songs from the very early days like the 1986 tape surfaced online? Stuff like ”Lemming Trail”, “Fat Girl”, “Girl (in the Purple Dress)”... that stuff popped up. Do you have any feelings for that?
Colin Greenwood: No, it’s fine... it’s like seeing a bunch of old photographs you haven’t seen for a long time, it’s fine. I like it! Yeah.
Italo Rossi: Who’s in charge of choosing the support acts for the tour?
Colin Greenwood: We all take part in that one, yeah, absolutely.
Italo Rossi: Apart from Other Lives and Caribou, have you thought of anyone else for this tour or is everything finalized?
Colin Greenwood: No, I don’t... if you have any ideas, that’d be great. Any suggestions? Who’d you like to see?
Italo Rossi: Kraftwerk, again!
Colin Greenwood: That’d be great, but they’re busy.
Italo Rossi: I think Beck is busy right now?
Colin Greenwood: Yeah...
BB:: Flying Lotus!
Colin Greenwood: Flying Lotus, yeah...
Italo Rossi: He did it with Atoms for Peace but for Radiohead... that would be great!
Colin Greenwood: Yeah!
Italo Rossi: Regarding “The King of Limbs” some people think the album has some sort of recurring theme, you know... old stuff like fairytales and tales from the woods, forests, do you feel there’s this kind of thing going on?
Colin Greenwood: I don’t know... I mean it’s something... it’s like uhm... (pause) I guess it has this sort of coherent, unifying thing because of the way we recorded it and I think there’s also different ideas in the songs.
Italo Rossi: So there’s no such thing as a concept beyond... behind that...
Colin Greenwood: Well, only as far as... the concept is in the edit and the selection of the songs and the running order, you know, like an album.
Italo Rossi: About session musicians, do you rely on working with brass instruments, strings...
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, we worked with brass instruments on the Basement, was really amazing.
Italo Rossi: Have you thought of adding anything else? Like, you know... exotic stuff, more percussion kind of things...
Colin Greenwood: Oh yeah!
Italo Rossi: ...instead of limiting yourselves to just strings and brass.
Colin Greenwood: No, I think it’s all good, I think uhm... we’ve always liked to do the percussion thing. Nigel is very good at that, he’s got a great way of making groove.
Italo Rossi: About some songs you soundcheked on the “In Rainbows” tour, there’s “The Present Tense” and there’s, you know, more stuff that Thom played on the Atoms for Peace tour like “Open the Floodgates” or this song called “Burn the Witch”... is there any progress with those? Did you try them for “The King of Limbs” or not?
Colin Greenwood: We’re going to try to do work on these other things as well when we get back.
Italo Rossi: Right after the tour is over, then?
Colin Greenwood: Yeah! Yeah...
Italo Rossi: Is there any chance you’ll do any solo work yourself? Because you’ve collaborated...
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, I did play bass on a friend’s record, Kieran’s and Kathryn, One Little Plane that was a lot of fun!
Italo Rossi: But nothing for yourself... nothing on your own...
Colin Greenwood: Nothing for myself, no, I’m more of a... I’m not really a solo artist.
Italo Rossi: We know you actually enjoyed a lot the South American tour.
Colin Greenwood: I loved it!
Italo Rossi: We’re actually all hoping you can come back and ...
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, we do too!
Italo Rossi: What was your feeling of the tour? Did you...
Colin Greenwood: It was incredible! You know... landing briefly in Peru, then taking off again...
Italo Rossi: We’re from there!
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, I know! Maybe next time we’ll play in Peru! And uh... Buenos Aires was amazing and I remember like on the last day before we flew back we went to Valparaiso in Chile, in the coast right by the ocean and I think it’s a great place to play shows and uhm... it was just an incredible experience. Lifetime memories! Specialness... and please... I hope people come and see us again when we tour South America
Italo Rossi: Any idea when that might happen again?
Colin Greenwood: I don’t know, but it’s something that we’d all love to do. One more question...?
Italo Rossi: Sounds good. Ok, I think that’s it...
Colin Greenwood: Well, thank you for your time.
Italo Rossi: No, thank you for your time! No wait... there was a... you had an interview with this guy in Austria where he played a clip.
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, I remember!
Italo Rossi: And you said you really liked that song... do you remember the title? At all?
Colin Greenwood: No (laughs) sorry! I remember the thing, but I don’t remember what he played... sorry... can’t remember the name. Sorry, I’m sorry I can’t help you...
Italo Rossi: You’re bad with names then...
Colin Greenwood: Yeah, sorry, my memory is like deceiving.
BB:: Perhaps we can also email Julie... we can always write...
Colin Greenwood: Yeah... if you remember, I’ll remember. Just email Julie.
[recording ends]
We gave him a bottle of Peruvian pisco, which he thanked greatly and said he’d take with care after we recommended him to take it with shot glasses. He accepted taking pictures with him inside the backstage area, despite the fact that we avoided doing so just to keep from invading the group’s personal space.
As the interview took place, all the members in Radiohead (except Jonny, but including Clive) roamed around where we sat. Thom was acting goofy, trying to make his life-long friend Colin laugh, in spite of being visibly tired. The rest came and went from the dining area, and it was not uncommon to see, for example, Ed helping with carrying the large water battles for water dispensers, a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere in the spirit of what a band of their size needs during the hours before playing in front of more than 50,000 people.
We said goodbye to Chris and Peter, thanking them once again for the opportunity. We left the whole backstage area and, once we were out of the seriousness and responsibility role we imposed on ourselves, we were able to take a deep breath, go back to our “fan selves” and realize what we had just experienced.
...and then on to queuing with hundreds of people just like each other, as human as Radiohead themselves and their crew, waiting for the doors to open so we could enter the venue.